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Red to the Shoulder
Red to the Shoulder is a Consul of the League of Nine, possibly the best known of them. He rules the city of Ruthlan. Appearance and Personality Red to the Shoulder is a towering monster of a man. Initially just under seven feet tall, he was observed to grow nearly six inches during the War of Nine. Red to the Shoulder is native to the eastern steppes, but is almost always completely ensconced within a suit of full plate armor. The designs vary, but all have a cosmetic enchantment that coats the entire right arm with the appearance of fresh blood from fingertips to shoulder. Red to the Shoulder is known to be impulsive, vainglorious, and extremely aggressive with a short temper. He revels in destruction to a degree that is unnerving even to other Consuls. He sees destruction in all its forms as his true purpose in existence. Most unnervingly, he does not attribute any kind of ideology to this slaughter--it is destruction for destruction's own sake. Red to the Shoulder reacts negatively to his name being shortened, and thus it never is by those who believe he might hear. His name comes from a passage in the Codex Baruc, wherein Baruch's hand is said to turn red as He starts the flood that eliminates the remains of the Eldest and Firstborn. Literally, the wrath of God taken to hyperbole. Red to the Shoulder is asexual. He claims that he finds sex disdainful, as it is inherently an act of creation. Portfolio Red to the Shoulder is a master evoker, able to lay waste to vast swathes with little more than a thought. He is also particularly adept at the Rites of Fortification, to the point that it is considered a death sentence for any wizard to try to dispel it. Unlike the other Consuls, Red to the Shoulder's magical skills are almost entirely combat related. Known History Red to the Shoulder's birth year is unknown but believed to be somewhere in the last quarter of the 16th century, making him the youngest Consul. Like most wizards, he keeps his True Name hidden and obscures most of his early life to prevent it from being discovered. He is believed to have been born among the nomadic tribes of the eastern steppes between Ruthlan and Goguryeo that he came to rule. Given the low rate of literacy among these tribes--let alone any kind of accurate record keeping--his origins have been lost to time. The only detail of his birth that Red to the Shoulder shares is that his mother died in childbirth. He takes a perverse pleasure in this, stating it as a form of "purity of purpose;" destruction was the consequence of his existence from his very first moment. Red to the Shoulder first appears in recorded history in 1642 for raids against Ruthlanian farmsteads. By 1649, he was recorded as a major threat to Ruthlanian agriculture and trade with the east. Ruthlanian intelligence believed that Red to the Shoulder had completely unified the eastern tribes into a single hoard by 1652. In 1657, the Conspiracy of wizards who would become the Consuls of the League of Nine invited Red to the Shoulder to join them by a 3-2 vote. His price was the throne of Ruthlan, taken by the election of 1658. The takeover was bloodless, but his coronation was not. Place in the League of Nine Red to the Shoulder spent most of the War of Nine in the position of Field Marshal of the League Army, second-in-command to Supreme Commander Four Whispered Words. This arrangement was deliberately designed to keep Red to the Shoulder out of the position of supreme leadership, where his overconfidence and bloodthirst could cause the League significant military harm. As a result, the position of Field Marshal is the highest rank permitted directly on the battlefield, rather than in a strategic capacity. Here Be Spoilers Red to the Shoulder ascends to the rank of Supreme Commander in 1675 after the death of Four Whispered Words. He slaughters the entire senior command staff after they refuse to follow his orders. This causes a defection among the most-senior surviving staff, fearing for their lives. This incident is believed to scuttle the League's chance of military victory or a credible chance at suing for peace. Red the Shoulder is killed by a combined effort of the remaining three consuls after this incident. Behind the Scenes Red to the Shoulder is loosely based on Genghis Khan.